According to the 14th annual Cyberstates report from TechAmerica Foundation, North Carolina remained the 16th largest cyberstate. And while the technology industry saw a dip in jobs in 2010, the decline was half that of the year before, representing trending growth in the industry.
Overall, high-tech industry jobs in North Carolina decreased by 3,100 in 2010. However, the state’s high-tech workforce is still strong with nearly 146,000 and a total payroll of nearly $12 billion. Jobs in computer systems design and related services rose by 1,800 in 2010. Although the state saw a decrease of 1800 jobs in computers and peripheral equipment manufacturing, North Carolina still ranked fourth nationwide in this area with a workforce of 11,100.
High-tech industry growth certainly seems the trend for North Carolina during 2011. On Tuesday, Governor Bev Perdue announced that Facebook is starting construction on a second building in Forest City, where its first N.C. data center facility is scheduled to go online during March 2012. The new expansion is expected to be completed by autumn 2013.
“Facebook’s additional expansion into North Carolina means more high-tech jobs and investment in Rutherford County,” said Gov. Perdue. “Facebook continues to be a ‘friend’ to North Carolina.”
Facebook’s Forest City data center will house tens of thousands of servers, which will accommodate much of its daily traffic for the Eastern U.S. and Europe.
“We believe the expanding operations and continued construction activities will have a positive impact on Rutherford County’s economy,” said George Henry, Facebook Data Center Manager.
North Carolina’s low-cost electricity, ready access to water for cooling purposes and significant state building incentives have been instrumental in supporting the growth of the high-tech industry and data center projects in the state. Google operates a data center in Lenoir and Apple recently built a data center outside of Maiden. With the recent clustering of data centers in Western North Carolina, the region is gaining recognition as a data center hub.
Data centers have found success in other locations across the state, as well. In July, Governor Perdue announced Time Warner Cable’s plans to build its national data center in Charlotte. EMC recently announced operations in its new 450,000 square-foot Center of Excellence (COE) data center, located in Durham.